Alexander, do you have any idea how dangerous that could be? There are religious fanatics out there who would do anything to get their hands on someone they believe can perform miracles, and there are others who would hurt a child just to prove that miracles don’t exist. As if to emphasize her point, a rock crashed through Alexander’s front window, followed by angry shouting from the crowd. Bring out the healer! We have a right to miracles! False prophet! Alexander and Dr. Winters ducked as more rocks began flying.
The crowd was turning violent, their desperation and religious fervor reaching a dangerous boiling point. Call the police, doctor, Winters said, grabbing her phone. This is getting out of control.
But before she could dial, Alexander’s doorbell rang again. This time, when he checked the security monitor, his heart nearly stopped. Standing at his gate, looking small and terrified in the middle of the angry mob, was Sophia.
She was still wearing the same tattered pink coat from the night before, but now it was torn and dirty. Her blonde hair was disheveled, and there were tears streaming down her face as desperate people pressed around her, reaching out to touch her, begging her to heal their loved ones. That’s her! someone screamed.
That’s the miracle child! The crowd surged towards Sophia like a tidal wave, and Alexander watched in horror as the tiny girl disappeared beneath a sea of grasping hands and desperate bodies. No! he screamed, his voice echoing through his mansion. Without thinking, without caring about his wheelchair or his limitations, Alexander did something he hadn’t done in twenty years.
He tried to stand up, and impossibly, miraculously, his legs supported his weight. For the first time in two decades Alexander Kane was standing on his own two feet. But he had no time to celebrate, no time to process the miracle that was happening to his own body.
Because outside his gates, the little girl who had given him back his legs was being crushed by the very people who sought the miracles she could provide. Dr. Winters stared at him in shock. Alexander you’re standing, you’re actually standing.
Call 9-1-1, he said, his voice deadly calm despite the chaos erupting around them. Tell them there’s a child in immediate danger, and then help me get to her. You can’t go out there, you’ve been in a wheelchair for twenty years, even if you can stand you can’t fight through that mob.
Alexander looked at his legs, his working, miraculous legs, and then at the security monitor where Sophia was barely visible beneath the crushing crowd. Watch me, he said. And for the second time in twenty-four hours, Alexander Kane prepared to have his entire world turned upside down.
But this time, he wouldn’t be the one receiving a miracle. This time, he would be the one delivering it. The crowd outside grew more violent by the second, and somewhere in that chaos, a six-year-old girl was fighting for her life.
The same girl who had given him the impossible gift of hope. The same girl who had just taught him that some things were worth standing up for, literally. But as Alexander prepared to face the mob, he had no idea that the black sedan across the street was filled with people who had been waiting for exactly this moment.
People who had a very different plan for both him and the miracle child. And time was running out for all of them.
